Free parking in the Netherlands 2026: when do you pay nothing?
Free parking is possible on Sunday in 290 of the 686 paid zones in 16 cities. Pick city, zone, day and time: the calculator tells you when it turns free.
Example with typical figures· change any figure to see your own result
Free parking in Wijk C.
18:00
On Sunday at 13:00 in Utrecht
- Paid now (€8.01 an hour). Free after that until the next paid period.
| Whole free days in this zone | none |
| Zones in Utrecht free on Sunday | 61 / 68 |
| Zones free on Tuesday at 8 pm | 30 / 68 |
National Parking Register, read on 12 November 2026. Blue zones and permit-holder bays are not in it.
| Day | Paid hours (hourly rate) |
|---|---|
| Monday | 07:00 to 24:00 (€8.01/h) |
| Tuesday | 00:00 to 01:00 (€8.01/h), 07:00 to 24:00 (€8.01/h) |
| Wednesday | 00:00 to 01:00 (€8.01/h), 07:00 to 24:00 (€8.01/h) |
| Thursday | 00:00 to 01:00 (€8.01/h), 07:00 to 24:00 (€8.01/h) |
| Friday | 00:00 to 01:00 (€8.01/h), 07:00 to 24:00 (€8.01/h) |
| Saturday | 00:00 to 01:00 (€8.01/h), 07:00 to 24:00 (€8.01/h) |
| Sunday | 00:00 to 01:00 (€8.01/h), 12:00 to 18:00 (€8.01/h) |
Prepared by Radif Partners · How we calculate
Paid parking almost never applies all week. Every zone has paid hours, and outside them street parking is free unless a sign says otherwise. In the National Parking Register we counted, for 16 cities, how many paid street zones are entirely free on Sunday, and how many on a Tuesday evening at eight. On Sunday 290 of the 686 zones are free, 42 percent. On Tuesday at 20:00 the figure is 224. The differences between cities are large. In Leiden Sunday is free in nearly every zone, in Breda in none. In Maastricht every zone is free at eight in the evening. Note that a zone that is free on Sunday can still be paid on a shopping Sunday or during an event. Blue zones, where you park free with a parking disc, are not in the register and therefore not in this count.
Free parking on Sunday and in the evening by city
For each city, the number of paid street zones in the register, how many are free all day on Sunday, and how many on a Tuesday at 20:00. Sorted by the share of free Sundays. Park-and-ride sites and garages are not counted. A high share does not mean the centre is free: that is often exactly where you do pay.
| City | Zones | Free on Sunday | Free Tuesday 20:00 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leiden | 27 | 25 (93%) | 20 (74%) |
| Utrecht | 68 | 61 (90%) | 30 (44%) |
| Delft | 9 | 7 (78%) | 1 (11%) |
| Amsterdam | 155 | 117 (75%) | 54 (35%) |
| Nijmegen | 29 | 15 (52%) | 16 (55%) |
| Amersfoort | 14 | 7 (50%) | 3 (21%) |
| Groningen | 39 | 18 (46%) | 21 (54%) |
| Eindhoven | 6 | 2 (33%) | 2 (33%) |
| Arnhem | 15 | 4 (27%) | 4 (27%) |
| 's-Hertogenbosch | 20 | 5 (25%) | 5 (25%) |
| Zwolle | 19 | 4 (21%) | 18 (95%) |
| Den Haag | 88 | 17 (19%) | 14 (16%) |
| Haarlem | 9 | 1 (11%) | 0 (0%) |
| Maastricht | 33 | 2 (6%) | 33 (100%) |
| Rotterdam | 124 | 5 (4%) | 3 (2%) |
| Breda | 31 | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
How we count
A zone counts as free on Sunday if the register lists no paid time slot for that day. For the evening we check whether a paid slot runs on Tuesday at 20:00. Public holidays, shopping Sundays and events can differ; the register sometimes lists them separately, and then the sign applies. Garages and park-and-ride sites have their own hours too; they are not counted here.
Rather not wait?
For a long day, a day ticket or a park-and-ride site is often cheaper than waiting until it turns free. If you stand at a paid time without paying, you risk a parking penalty.